The Flower Shop Dispensary filed its application Friday afternoon as the first medical marijuana dispensary to open in Sioux Falls.
The store opened nearly two years after the state passed Measure 26 to legalize medical cannabis, and after being the first of five companies to win medical marijuana licenses in a city-sponsored lottery. of Sioux Falls. almost a year ago.
Owner Peter Dikun, a Czechoslovakia-born Dell Rapids resident, is proud that his company’s bid was the first ball drawn in the lottery, the No. 1 ball and the first to open in the city. The property he owns near the intersection of 49th and West was in the city’s “green zone” for dispensaries, so he jumped at the chance to turn it into a dispensary.
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“We just got lucky,” he said of the possibility of opening the business at 2211 West 49th Street, named after the flowers of the marijuana plant that can be smoked.
Flower Shop Dispensary is the third state-licensed medical marijuana facility to open in South Dakota, following Path of unity. in Hartford and Dakota Natural Solutions grows in Wessington Springsboth serving patients with South Dakota medical cannabis cards.
The first dispensary located in South Dakota was Indigenous Nations Cannabis in Flandreau and serves holders of tribal cards.
After opening the doors to customers around 3 p.m. on Friday, Dikun saw people “coming in little by little.” Friday saw about 40 customers; Saturday, 80; Sunday, 40; and, another 20 am on Monday morning alone.
Customers need a state-issued medical marijuana card and must be over 21 to purchase at the store. Dikun said he saw “all kinds” of customers and patients in his store, of varying ages. So far, the majority of clients have been people in their 60s and are professionals suffering from various types of ailments, he said.
“It’s their choice of relief instead of taking opiates or (other) prescriptions,” he said.
There are five different strains of flowers that customers can purchase, as well as hemp edibles, which Dikun said can be purchased across state lines. The flowers are stored in jars and distributed “like a delicatessen” from the jars, weighed in front of customers at points of sale.
The buds or flowers can be smoked with a pipe, waterpipe or pre-rolled into joints, Dikun explained, while the edibles are eaten. There are a variety of edibles available: everything from THC-free CBD oil, to melatonin for sleep and anti-inflammatory purposes, to taffy and brownies, for example.
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Dikun explained that the doctors who prescribe medical marijuana cards in South Dakota recommend the treatment, not a certain dosage, so when patients come to his store, he or one of five other employees guides the customers. through the options and steers them in the right direction.
“A majority of people, about 98%, are already familiar with these products,” Dikun said of the more than 2,000 patients who have obtained South Dakota medical marijuana cards so far. “There are a lot of smokers locked up there.”
Dikun said it takes about a year for markets to mature in any given city launching a medical marijuana program. Every time customers visit his store, there will be something new on the shelves, he added.
Her store sources flowers from a local Tea grower known as Pure Bliss Farms, which Dikun says has about 10 employees and operates about 7,000 square feet of plants.
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